The Death of Loyalty
by Bizarrejoe
Summary: After an earthquake threatens to bury Rainbow Dash and Rarity under a mountain, Dash tries her best to save her Marefriend, but her best wasn't good enough to save them both. Even though she was able to save Rarity, a rock permanently cripples Rainbow, and now she has to deal with that situation, and she isn't too happy about it.
1. A Wonderful Day

**Disclaimer: The first two chapters of this story were provided to me by the person who funded this fic, he wanted me to complete it, so i tried to do that to the best of my ability. I do not know who the original author of the first two chapters is, if you're reading this, please contact me through DMs so i can edit this Message.**

**The rest of you, please enjoy... If you can.**

* * *

The door opened to the Carousel Boutique. A blue pegasus strode in, her multicolored mane cockily styled and a definite jauntiness in her step. She called up the stairs, "Hey, Rarity!"

"Just a second, Rainbow Dash," a feminine voice replied from up the stairs. There were grunts and thumping as furniture was moved and Rarity appeared several seconds later perfectly poised with a giant hat on her head and a wicker basket suspended in her magical aura.

Dashie approached and kissed her on the cheek. "Took more than a second."

Rarity giggled back at her marefriend, "I didn't mean it literally."

"I know, but you're cute when you're blushing. So, anyways, Rares, what are we doing today?"

Rarity rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "I was planning on collecting some gems today."

"Again? But you did that just last week, too. And isn't Spike your go-to dragon for that? "

Rarity tut-tutted back at her marefriend, giving her body a long, sensuous rub from dock to haunch, "Now, Rainbow Dash, I didn't say I had to go alone." The white unicorn mare circled back around, brushing her along the wings with her cheeks. She kissed Rainbow Dash on the neck and fixed her with her eyes. "It'll be just us, alone together. What if I get attacked by something? What's a poor, weak unicorn like me to do if somepony were to well take advantage of her vulnerability?"

Dash purred, "Now that won't do. Lead the way, Rarity."

The two ponies stepped out the door, saddlebags full of equipment and they began their walk down to the gem cave. It was a lovely day in Ponyville. Springtime, as Rarity thought so, always did bring out the very best of her delightful little hometown. She had been there all her life, not that she had always loved it. Growing up, she had always wanted to be somewhere else, someplace big and happening. Depending on the season it would be either Canterlot or Manehattan. Canterlot for the Grand Galloping Gala. Manehattan for Saddle Row and Fashion Week. The little white filly had been all about fashion, for in her eyes, fashion was what you showed to the world to describe you. A dress was never just a dress, it was a statement as to who you were, what you wanted ponies to feel, and maybe even where you came from.

She looked to the right and saw her marefriend there. Rainbow Dash, pegasus, twenty-two years old, Wonderbolt. They had been together for three years. Rarity had never quite been able to believe her luck with regards to ending up with Rainbow Dash. It had been like a dream.

A lonely night, too much cider, and then things just sorta, well, for a lack of a better word, happened. Next thing she knew, she had the blue bolt all to herself. Not bad for a fashionista like herself. All things considered, though she was in good shape, she'd never be quite the fit freak like her marefriend. Sometimes she felt bad about it. But she kept moving and watched her lady's physique. All in all, there were perks to being with a pegasus as frisky as she was fit. And when Dash came around all tuckered out, it was more than she could do to deny her horizontal refreshment.

They walked along the dirt path out to the fringes of Ponyville. Then their course took them into the hills past Fluttershy's Cottage. Dash locked eyes with Angel Bunny and gave the naughty rabbit a glare. He stamped his foot and shot her just as venomous and expression back at the pegasus as if to imply his hopes that she suffer an imminent and painful fate. The two mares ignored him, much too busy were they laughing, chatting, and kissing. Indeed, they were madly in love with each other. They did not notice him hop off the ground and peer at it intently. Did it just shake?

It was following a brisk trot through the meadows at the fringes of the Everfree Forest that they finally reached their destination.

Before them stood a mammoth mountain of rock, the bones of the very earth itself standing high and defiant into the sky in a sheer cliff. Rarity bounded up to it bouncily while Rainbow Dash hung back. She dithered her hooves through the dirt nervously, kicking up little bits of dust and grass. She stared into the yawning black chasm, a maw into a dark abyss with who knew what that went who knew how far. Rainbow Dash thought it looked like the very mountain itself could eat her whole. How did it not collapse under the uncountable thousands upon thousands of tons of nothing but crushing rock pressing down for hundreds of feet? And Rarity wanted her to go into it so blithely?

Speaking of Rarity, the white mare turned around. She raised an eyebrow at her marefriend and asked, "Is something the matter, dear Dash?"

"N-no," Rainbow lied.

"Now, Dash, you should know by now you're an even worse liar than Applejack. What's the matter, dear?"

Rainbow admitted, "Nothing, I'm just not very fond of caves is all."

"Are you worried?"

"UUuuuhhm..."

"That it's going to collapse on top you you?"

"Eeeeeeyyyaaaaaah, exactly. How does a cave even work? Why doesn't it collapse in on itself? It's solid rock, Rarity. And I'm a pegasus; you know what that means? Hollow bones. Hollow bones plus collapsing rocks equals splat me." She swore she felt the ground tremble ever so slightly again.

Rarity laughed, "Oh, Dash, don't you worry about a thing. Spike and I have been in here hundreds of times without a problem. It'll be fine. The only thing that falls in this cave, darling, is water. Now come on, please, won't you for me? I promise to protect you."

Rainbow sighed, "Okay, Rarity, I'll come inside. Let's do this." Rarity walked back to her and reassuringly nuzzled her marefriend's nose. Then she led her inside the dark cave, igniting a pale blue light from the horn.

Rarity hummed happily and the cave seemed to hum along with her. She swished her tail as she went. Her hooves made a delightfully, ringing clippity clop noise off the smooth, cool cave floor. Her horn's lighting made a dome of light that offered a glowing umbrella against the otherwise ravenous darkness of the cave. This was a great idea - invite Rainbow someplace she knew they could be alone and private. A place without Sweetie Belles or Spikes to interrupt or overhear them - a special place for just the two of them. She had to suppress a giggle to spare Rainbow Dash's pride; it was far too adorable that the tough Wonderbolt was scared of a little darkness and had to be walked through by a soft marshmallow mare. Oh she would get so much mileage out of this later in little teasings; she loved to make her oh so tough lover blush and groan.

Rainbow Dash did her best to conceal her nervousness. It wasn't for Rarity's sake; after years of learning each other inside and out, there was nothing she could hide anymore. No, it was for her own pride. It had been a great milestone to even let Rarity in on her anxiety, but like hell she was going to be deterred from something so easily; she'd rather die than even appear weak. As they went deeper into the cave, her anxiety did moderate. This was doable, this was fine. Here she was with Rarity and nothing was going to hurt them. And Rarity had not been kidding about it being a very private place. She had half a mind to surreptitiously start a search for a different kind of treasure.

"Rarity, are we there yet?"

"Not quite yet, Darling."

They continued along for what felt like hours. Dash began to get used to the darkness. It was not too bad, at least not with her love right beside her and leading the war forward. In fact, Rainbow Dash could even say that it felt very cozy and intimate being right there with Rarity. She lovingly stretched out a wing and draped it over the white unicorn's back. She felt her lover's warmth and to her satisfaction, Rarity murmured a bit and pressed back against her. Dashie stuck out her neck and gave a kiss on the unicorn's mane. This crazy date idea was starting to turn out very well and she was starting to feel very cozy.

Suddenly, Rarity stopped. They were doubtlessly miles underground now, under all that rock... Rainbow felt her chest tightened and feathers bristle. Rarity showed no indication of worry, so she relaxed. Her marefriend's lovely voice announced, "And here, darling, is where I harvest my gems." Her horn flared for a second before it glowed as brightly as the sun. She stepped ahead of Rainbow, almost preening in her haughty canter. The ground gave a nearly imperceptible quiver. "So, what do you think?"

"Wooooooowww..." Rainbow's mouth hung over. Surrounding her was indescribable beauty. The roof of the cavern was so distant as to be lost to the gloom, but dangling from it were great crystal stalactites of immeasurable worth. All around them were myriad gems and crystals, scintillating in a thousand shades of radiance from Rarity's light. It was like something from an artwork, not real life, but here they were. The walls and ground were covered in gems, and bands of minerals warped around different columns like snaking lines of rainbow hued snakes.

"It's... I... Rarity, it's beautiful." Dash kissed her on the mouth, a deep kiss that was returned eagerly to her hungry mouth.

Rarity produced a pickaxe from her saddlebags and levitated a bucket over to Rainbow Dash. "Now, shall we begin?"

Rainbow nodded in agreement and they went about breaking apart rocks to reveal the dazzling gems inside. They carried on for hours. When one bucket was filled, they emptied it into a holding pouch and filled it again. Dash didn't tell Rarity, but looking at her plot, she could think of more fun things to do than the frankly monotonous task of following her around with a bucket in her mouth. She'd get her fun; they were alone after all, and she could just gobble that tasty marshmallow mare right up…

The ground gave another rumble. "Rarity, did you feel that?"

"Feel what?"

"The ground, it shook just now."

"Nonsense, Dear," Rarity refuted. "I'll have you know that Twilight told me this area is very geologically stable. The ground rumbled. Rarity gave a concerned look. Her eyes slowly dilated as they looked upwards. She swallowed, trying very hard to remain calm. "Dash."

"Yes?"

"I need you to disregard your brash instincts at this very moment and follow me slowly. I fear my assessment of this cave's stability was overly optimistic and it would be best for us to leave."

"Yeah, let's."

They gingerly began walking out of the cave, their eyes fixed on the ceiling. Above them were poised a million mighty spearhead fangs waiting to crash down upon them from the dark. Rarity shot sparks up high and attempted to steer clear of where it looked like the rocks may come loose over them, but there wasn't much to do when the whole ceiling was replete with spikes the size of houses. They said nothing, holding in breath for fear that even the slightest thing could bring down everything.

The ground rumbled again, harder. Then, something hit Rarity on the head and with a crumbling sound. Dust and pebbles... from the ceiling. But that only happened if... She turned to Dash, panic now evident. "Run!"

They took off at full speed as the stalactites fell around them with awful whistling followed by great, booming thuds that echoed throughout the chamber like a drum. They were aiming for the passage out. Suddenly, Dash saw something from up high, right in her marefriend's path.

There was no way to avoid it.

There was no way to dissuade it.

There was no way to deflect it.

And it was about to kill the mare she loved most of all.

There was no choice.

Rainbow Dash spread her wings and bolted at it. She cried out, "RARITY!"

She just barely careened into Rarity before she felt something strike her in the neck then she couldn't move. Something was keeping her in place. "Rarity! Run!" Then something struck her again and everything went black.


	2. A Unforgettable Date

The doctor stood before her. He stood like a vulture, looking grim, his face drawn into lines and creases. He was not a gorgeous creature, not at all like her Rainbow Dash. No, she could even smell it from him - the smell of sterilizing solvents, latex gloves, and morphine sulphate. He was a pony whom you never wanted to meet. For all his white and an attempt at looking approachable, he may as well to her have been robbed in black and carrying a scythe.

Rarity could hardly speak. Her throat felt dry, as if choked by dust still from the cave. But still, she tried her best. "I-is she going to be alright?"

The doctor remained grim. "Miss Rarity," he began dryly, slowly, like a mosquito buzzing lazily up to get a suck of blood, "Rainbow Dash has been severely injured. Now, you must understand that we have done the best we can."

"Is she going to be alright?"

"Miss Rarity..."

"Is she going to be alright!?"

The doctor sighed, "You must understand..."

"Will. She. Be. Alright?"

The doctor shook his head. "Miss Rarity, Rainbow Dash was severely injured, but we did save her life."

Rarity collapsed onto a chair, spend. "Oh, heavens to Celestia, thank you, doctor!"

She didn't notice he wasn't smiling. "However, we can only do so much, and given the extent of the damage, she is lucky just to be as she is."

Rarity looked up. "Wh-what do you mean? She's going to fly again, right?"

"She will never fly again."

"Oh, noooo... I- but, a life on the ground isn-"

"Miss Rarity, Miss Dash will never be able to move herself again."

"No."

"Please understand that it was all we could do to save her life. It was like trying to reconstruct a chicken tender into a breast again."

"Nooo..."

"She will live, but will never walk or move again for the rest of her days."

"No!" Rarity screamed, overcome. And then she fainted. The last thing she heard was her friend's voices asking something at first in hushed tones before screaming in horror.

Pain. That was all Rainbow Dash could really notice in the darkness. It was pain. Oddly enough, it was just in her head and neck. Everywhere else was actually fine, or so it seemed, even though she could not bring herself to believe it.

How had she done it? How under Celestia's sun had she possibly survived that nightmare in the cave? She shuddered. She had bad feelings leading up; she had always had a danger sense and knew when things were going to be bad - it was a trait that had saved her numerous times during both her service with the Wonderbolts, and in other daring adventures. A sixth sense had hung around her, giving her just the inkling she needed to be spared every time she danced just two steps from death. Had it indeed managed somehow to do so again? She had tried to save Rarity when the cave-in began; she would never have allowed her marefriend to come to harm. She knew she had been struck more than once by rocks, but she had gotten Rarity out of the way of worse. In her mind, that was what had mattered most of all. She was indeed loyal to the end.

Rainbow dash felt and itch on her ear, just a little itch. She tried to scratch it. She willed her wing to move, but it wouldn't. She remained still. She couldn't make her appendage go. Her pulse began to quicken. Okay, no biggie, she had others. She tried to move her leg to get at it. But nothing happened. What the hell? Why couldn't she move!?

Her pulse darted high. She opened her eyes - maybe she was still stuck? She found herself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. Where was she? Her breathing sped. Okay okay, she had this. She just had to move her... only her neck could move! She was trapped here!

Her pulse pounded. She couldn't breathe. Oh, sweet Celestia, she couldn't breathe! Help! Rarity! Anypony!

But nopony came to help her. She was all alone. Alone with all her fear and panic.

And there was nothing to do but wait. And wait. And wait. Rainbow Dash did not know for how long exactly she waited, but eventually the panic did pass. If she could feel her limbs, she would have described them as being like jelly. Curiously they did not. She didn't know what to think of that.

Boredom returned. There was nothing to do but sit and wait. And wait. And wait. And wait.

This abject monotony was interrupted by the door suddenly swinging open. Rainbow Dash could just barely shift her field of vision. There were the sounds of many hoofsteps approaching her. Another small spike of fear emerged. Her military background instantly gave her the desire to face the newcomers and evaluate them as threats; she could not afford to be unaware in her vulnerable state.

Wait, was that a bouncing noise?

The hoofsteps drew nearer. As did that strange rhythm.

Yes, it was! That could only mean…

"HIYA, DASHIE!" Pinkie Pie cheered.

"Ha-hem." Dash's blood froze. That was not a friend's voice, nor one promising good things. It was male, dry, and uncaring.

Twilight said, "You wait; princess's orders." She stepped deliberately into Rainbow's field of view. "So, Dash, how are you feeling?"

"Great, just great," the pegasus lied. "Never better. Say, has Spitfire come around asking for me."

Rarity interrupted, "Why yes, she has, darling. She's glad you're alright." Her gaze fell. Her words trailed off. It was that look that always preceded something Rainbow knew she was not going to like hearing. "It's just that..."

The doctor had to finish for her. "Miss Dash, it is a miracle you are alive. However, I'm afraid there is some bad news."

Dash gulped. "What kind of bad news?"

"Your organs are okay; you will not need machines to live. However, your neck was shattered by falling rocks. You will never walk again."

"I... I can fly again, right?"

"Nay," said the doctor.

Rainbow burst into tears. It was an ugly sight. Rarity immediately went to comfort her, nuzzing her face. "I got you, Dashie, it's going to be okay. It's going to be okay."

"N-no it won't! I'm never going to fly again, I'm not going to walk again, I can't even feel you hugging me!"

"Dash!"

"No, I can't do this, Rarity! I'm paralyzed - my life is over!"

Rarity wept too, "It's all my fault. I'm sorry."

Dash said, "It can't be your fault, Rarity, you didn't ask for this to happen."

The fashionista explained, "But I tempted fate, Rainbow Dash. I took you deep in the cave without having had Maud first explore it. I just wanted to show you something special."

Rainbow sighed, "It was pretty, Rarity, really. If only it wasn't quite so literally breathtaking."

"I know, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

Twilight interrupted, "Don't beat yourself up, Rarity, you didn't know." She tried to put a hoof on Rarity's shoulder.

Rarity wince and ducked it off. "Ouch. Now, Twilight, it really is my fault, all of it. I got Rainbow Dash into her situation. Without me, Rainbow would not be in her current predicament. The only fitting thing, therefore, is to make me the guilty party at fault here."

"Rarity, being in an accident isn't a crime..."

Rainbow said, "Girls, enough, it's cool. I'll be out of here like... eventually... and Twilight can make some magic to make me right again, right?"

Five friendly faces looked at her and smiled just a little too wide. "Yeah, sure," they all said.

The doctor then turned to them and said, "Now, if you will excuse me, I need to have a conversation with Miss Dash alone."

"But-" they all objected.

He asked, "Are any of you immediate or close family - spouses, sister, mothers?" They all answered with various forms of denial. "In that case, protocol dictates that you be absent from the room during medical counseling. You may reenter for the rest of visiting hours after I am done talking to her. Now go on, out, get."

"Can't they be here with me? Do you really gotta kick them out, Doc?" Rainbow Dash half whined?

"I am afraid so, Miss Dash, this information is confidential, and so I am required by law to disclose it to you and you alone in private."

"Okay. So what's the news?"

The doctor shook his head sadly. "It's just as bad as you feared, Miss Dash. Your neck was broken in the accident, breaking your spine between your third and fourth vertebrae.

Fortunately, your autonomic nervous system was not impacted. You will not need assistance to run your heart and lungs. However, your motor functions have been significantly impacted. You are right, you will never walk or fly again. With the exception of those, you will make a full recovery with no chronic pain or organ damage, and ought to be free to leave in about a week. But your disability doesn't have to mean your life is over. Many patients with your condition go on to live long, full lives. And with modifications, they can resume activities they enjoyed as well as find new ones. Equestria has a law about accommodating disability, and..." He stopped there. Rainbow Dash was looking right through him.

"Doc, I've heard enough..."

"I shall leave you be, then. I will be back tomorrow to discuss treatment and living options."

"Thank you."

And so he left her alone.

The next seven days were hell for Rainbow. She wasn't sure what was worse, being awake and unable to move. or being asleep and dreaming that she could. Her friends, Rarity included, came to visit her every single day. Scootaloo visited a few times, to her immense shame. The saddest part wasn't seeing Scootaloo's distress at her condition, it was now realizing just how she'd made scootaloo feel by waving in her face something she'd never have. Even Spitfire and the other Wonderbolts had come around and she had thrown her a quick party before the nurses through them out for getting to raucous. The good news was that she wasn't off the team - she'd been given an honorary permanent spot on the team and access to future shows. The bad news was she'd never fly again with them.

But when all these friends weren't around, Rainbow Dash was alone with her thoughts. She didn't like that, not one bit. And after a lifetime of running as fast as possible to be engaged, she didn't know how to just be alone with them.

She didn't like how they made her feel. Even worse, she didn't like how they made her think.

But there was no escape. She was alone most of the time for the next week.

Rarity asked, "Are you comfortable, Darling? Can I get you anything? More cushions? A blanket? Something to read."

Rainbow sulked, but she answered, "No, nothing, it's fine. Everything's fine. Let's just go home."

The pegasus was bristling after a week. She was sitting in her wheelchair, or as she was starting to consider it, her mobile prison.

"As you wish, Darling." Rarity said as she wheeled her paralyzed marefriend out of the hospital and toward there home.


	3. The Bad News

Dash became very familiar with the lights on the ceiling of her room when she was at the hospital. A whole life of early physical training plus five years of military service had gotten her used to being awake pretty early in the morning. Being hospitalized, that only meant waking up sometimes hours before the sun rose and the first nurses came. Without them to move her mattress so she could look at anything, she had to spend at least an hour looking at the ceiling, counting crevices and trying to force herself and failing to go back to sleep. It's not like she could have done anything else, now that she was like this.

But now that she was being moved somewhere else, she had to get familiar with another ceiling, a prettier one. As she was moved to Twilight Sparkle's friendship castle. She had been out of the hospital for a week and already hated it. She hated the ceiling, she hated that she woke up hours before her friends, she hated that her friends had to do everything for her. She hated being paralyzed.

She hated her diaper, because containing waste was a voluntary impulse, meaning that she shat and pissed herself whenever her body needed to dispose of it, whether she wanted to or not.

She hated that her friends had to do absolutely everything for her. Like Spike, who was currently reading her one of the new Daring Do novels. Daring Do was one of her real life friends, and most of the things that were written in her books happened to be true. For her, in her current condition, this was like communicating with Daring. And it was going to be her only method of communication with her, because Dash specifically requested that no ponies from outside her social circles here in equestria should be informed of her current situation. In other words, if they didn't know already, you weren't supposed to tell them that little Dashie had gone from the world's fastest flier to a vegetable filled with sorrow and regret.

Sorrows that she couldn't drown in alcohol. She was told in the hospital that she would never be able to get drunk ever again, due to her fracture taking her neural cluster, she was never going to be able to get drunk or addicted ever again. Alcohol for her now would be just bad tasting water. And even if that wasn't the case, her friends would still need to give it to her and knowing them they would stop way before she could get anywhere.

Her doctor was a freaking liar, yeah, she was going to have so much of a full life when she couldn't even turn her neck around without someone doing it for her. The stress that this caused her was racking her brain.

Being a Pegasus was an awesome thing. You get to fly around and trot on clouds. And Rainbow Dash in particular remembered the old times, the really really old times, when she first learned to fly. She fluttered and floated and flew before she even learned to trot. It had always been her passion, the freedom she felt when she was in the air was nothing short of unbelievable. In her most daring stunt, she skyrocketed herself so high into the air, that the blue sky around her lost all color, and she found herself looking at the starry midnight sky in the middle of the day, and that moment, that moment was something special. She had seen something nobody had seen before, she broke the rules. She had seen the sky above the sky and it opened her eyes. This, this was the feeling of true freedom, floating in Luna's forbidden domain. She was up there for a total of five seconds, but it was all she needed to make her decide that she was going to do it again, even if she had to spend her whole life trying.

At the time, it seemed like such a good dream. Escaping the pull of equus and flying through an expanse more infinite than the skies themselves, feeling the cold love of heaven above the world.

And now. Now he knew it was impossible, she was grounded, and didn't know for how long she ]would be. Her friend Twilight was looking through all of the magic tomes in her library to find a spell that could fix her body. Ugh.

She never thought that she would ever miss Discord. If he was here, or even alive, he could fix her body with a snap of his fingers.

Why did he have to become selfless and sacrifice himself for fluttershy?

It would be so easy if he could just melt her into a puddle and remake her again, good as new. But now with him becoming a seal to a leaking world, that would never happen. And she was stuck here, waiting for one of her friends to come to change her diaper and get her in her prison with wheels.

The moment came half an hour after she woke up, when Spike came through her door. After getting rid of her shame, and loading her into her wheelchair, he cheerily announced that they had a good day planned for her. Being stuck inside the castle was not good for her mental health, so they were going to take her out while Twilight tried to use healing spells she knew to develop a new one that would allow her to fix Dash's body.

With a spring in his step, he quickly took her through the hall, extending his wings and flying her down the stairs, safely landing on the floor below. For once, she felt some pride on the dragon's flying and ability to quickly turn and change speeds. If she hadn't taught him that, they would probably be a splatter on the floor.

For a minute, she wondered if that would have been better.

Regardless, she heard hoofsteps getting closer through the hall. Apparently the day that Spike had planned had at least another pony coming along. She sighed, and decided to get it over with. Well, it wasn't as if she had a choice in the matter. Spike was the one moving her.

He drove her to the door that opened from the other side, revealing their companion. Rarity.

At least there was one face she was somewhat glad to see. Her marefriend who looked as gorgeous as she could ever look.

She trotted to her side and asked Spike if she was ready. Did she just ignore her and go straight to Spike?

Spike answered by whispering something in Rarity's ear that Dash couldn't catch. After that. Rarity turned to her.

"Well Good morning darling! I hope you're ready for today"

"Okay. Stop" Said Rainbow Dash, with the closest thing to a frown she could make. "What are you two plotting and what's with all this secrecy?"

"Oh, We just realized that being here can't be good for you, so I'm taking you out for a change of scenery"

The words out of her marefriend's mouth felt dull on her ears. What was the point? It wasn't as if she was going to burst out and trot all of a sudden if they took her out. It was more likely for her to get noticed if they did that…. That was what she thought, but then again. She couldn't bring herself to say no to her. So she answered with a simple and defeated "Okay".

"Well girls, you know how to contact me if you needed anything" Said Spike as he waved them goodbye.

"Darling you know that won't be necessary" Rarity spoke, turning back to him "Or you just want to be a part of our date?"

With an awkward smile, Spike said "If I say yes Scootaloo will kill me. So you two have fun, and take care"

Having said their goodbyes, Rarity's horn started glowing and her chair started to move alongside her as she trotted out to the town of ponyville.

Dash had to close her eyes when they went out, she hasn't realized how little of the actual sun she had seen in the last two weeks. Once she opened them, what she saw made her want to keep her eyes closed.

Normal ponies in ponyville, happily going through their lives as normal. She didn't know that somepony could grow so bitter in such little time. But with every house and store they passed through, seeing ponies happily trotting around and going by their lives as if nothing had happened, it made her angry. Not outwardly, but deep inside her stomach, it felt like a pit of anger was growing with everypony she saw.

Well, she knew for a fact that there was one pony that wouldn't anger her, she had been speaking for a while now, but she was too busy being bitter to pay attention, she looked to her side to see Rarity giving her the latest news about the town. What she was currently saying apparently something to do with Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara getting together and Granny Smith not approving.

Dash couldn't care less, but seeing her marefriend was soothing, or at least it should be. But the more she paid attention to her face the easier it became to see that something was wrong. Rainbow wasn't known for being an egghead like Twilight, but her job required her to pay attention to details, and that she did. Those wrinkles on the side of Rarity's eyes, that extra wide smile that she gave whenever she said something that was supposed to be funny. Something was going through her mind, something heavy, but Rainbow Dash didn't inquire. After what happened not so long ago, she didn't think her heart could handle much, and a break up may end up just killing her.

After a few minutes of listening to Rarity update her about the town, she stopped. Both talking and the wheelchair. They had stopped at a restaurant. _Huh, it looks like the date thing wasn't just her teasing Spike._ Dash thought. She didn't expected much to come out of this, really. She would prefer to not be in such a public place, but once again, her need to please her marefriend came before everything else.

After a small talk with the receptionist, they were let in. The last that Dash saw of the receptionist was him giving her a dirty look._ Yeah, I'm a cripple, I don't need you to realize that. _She thought before frowning and quickly looking the other way.

_Rarity must have been planning this if we had reservations._ Thought rainbow. As Rarity moved her to their table, she started to wonder about the reason for this date. She wouldn't bring them here for a break up, it was too public and Rarity wasn't so messed up that she would do that to her.

Once Rarity sat down and they had ordered, she started talking. And talking, and talking. Once she had realized that Dash's responses were dull and extremely uninterested, the features that she noticed on her face before came back with a vengeance. She loved her with a passion, but seeing her like this did not do good things for her.

And the fifteen minute waiting time was not doing her patience any favors. Every minute that passed with Rarity trying to make her feel better made her angrier, she didn't know if it was with Rarity, her situation or the ponies around her, she just knew that she didn't like being here, and that pretending that everything was normal wasn't making it any better.

Once their food came to her table, Rarity's magic came into effect, and she picked two forks, one for herself and one for Dash. Not even eating made the bad feeling go away. After she voiced that to Rarity.

"You don't have to worry Darling, Twilight and Starlight are hard at work trying to get a Spell that can cure you" There it was again, that forced smile "They even sent for Sunset Shimmer just so they can have more help with your spell."

It didn't convince her. Yes, she hoped that Twilight could come up with a spell that could fix her, but Dash had seen the purple unicorn come up with bigger miracles in less time.

"Dashie, love. Sooner that you realize you'll be back in the skies, and everything will be just like normal"

"No it wont" Answered Dash, Dismissively.

"What?"

"You heard me, It's not going to be the same."

"Dash, please. Pessimism looks so ugly on you. Let us worry about you"

"That's the problem!" Dash screamed, attracting a lot of concerned looks "You all need to do everything for me! You feed me, you dress me. I never in my life wanted to be anything but a pegasus, but if I was a unicorn right now at least I could wipe my own ass!"

Rarity was stunned, she fought to contain her tears, and for the first time in a long time. She won. The views and muttering of the ponies around her. And for a solid minute, she said nothing, just like Dash.

She gave her marefriend one guilty look, and said. "Let's go home before they kick us out".

Using her magic, she took Dash's wheelchair and walked to the door. And as she got out and trotted them both to the carrousel boutique, she thought of Twilight and hoped that her and her entourage had luck finding or making the spell to fix Rainbow, because she didn't know for how long she could stand the guilt that she felt every time she laid eyes on Rainbow Dash. She wasn't a praying mare, but she hoped that Celestia heard her prayer.

In the depths of the Friendship Castle, three ponies were having a stressful argument. Books and tomes and arcane scrolls littered the floor of the room they were in. Twilight Sparkle studied the five books in front of her, Sunset Shimmer trotted around while reading an ancient scroll, and Starlight Glimmer asked a question.

"What if we use time travel?"

"Starlight" Started Twilight "You now know how the holistic principle works, if we go and stop this from happening, another pony will get hurt at the same level and I can't do that in good conscience"

"Twilight, that may be the only way to save Dash" Said Sunset, reminding Twilight that she was in a room filled with ponies that were more morally flexible than her "You know as well as we do that healing magic doesn't work like that. Fixing her in the way that she wants is impossible"

"We have done the impossible before! And we will do it again" Yelled Twilight, in a voice that lost volume and steam the longer that she spoke, as if the part that knew that what Sunset was saying was right was overtaking her "For Rainbow Dash's sake"

"I hope you're right Twilight" Said Starlight "I hope you're right"


	4. Sitting Idle

In the middle of the day, Rainbow Dash flew through the sky at blinding speed, spinning around the clouds and doing aileron rolls whenever she came down, before picking herself up and ascending before touching the ground.

It all felt so… fake.

Every single night, of every single day of the last few months Dash had been getting dreams like these, and every single time they started, Luna, who she knew was making her have these dreams as an attempt to lift her mood, always made her forget that it was a dream. But unlike Luna who was an unicorn before becoming an alicorn, Dash was a pegasus, an early flutterer, she was a born flier. She had been in the sky since before she could even trot, she knew how the sky was supposed to feel and this? This wasn't right.

The feeling of pressure when she came back down, the lack of oxygen above the clouds, the rough texture of the air at high speeds. It was all wrong. Maybe normal ponies couldn't tell but she was born to fly, it was her element, the sky was the only place where she felt completely comfortable. She could tell this wasn't real, so, when she reached the highest point her wings could take her, she turned back around, and with a sonic rainboom, she crashed herself into the ground.

She woke up immediately after in her bed in Twilight's castle, completely unharmed. Well at least as unharmed as somepony who had been in that bed for four and a half months straight could be.

She received the sight of the now familiar ceiling with a sigh, yeah, the ceiling was still there, with it's 11500 cuts in the dark and 56200 shines whenever the lights were on. She had counted them, in the time she had been bedridden, she had enough time to do nothing but familiarize herself with her prison. If the room was sentient, she would have known it by name, but as it was, she just knew everything about it from memory, every cut and shine. Of every wall in her room, it was one of the extremely few things she could do while she sat and waited for the spell to cure her limbs.

Limbs that now, after one hundred forty five days of total inactivity, were virtually non-existent. The body that her lover was so enamoured with, all toned and muscular was now reduced to something resembling an skeletal raisin. She wasn't the Rainbow that her friends knew for years. She was a bedridden failure that they had to take care of, she knew that, she believed that. She wasn't the creature of habit that she once was, she didn't wake up at 4 am anymore to exercise, she was asleep all the time, sometimes until midday. In her mind, she was nothing but a nuisance, a stupid waste of space that needed her friends to do everything for her.

She should be out there helping save the world, but instead she was relegated to this bed, being a bother to everypony.

Rarity always reminded her that she shouldn't think like that, that ensuring her safety and health was not a problem to any of them. Yes, she should trust her marefriend, but how? How could she ever think of herself as anything other than an useless annoyance when she couldn't even clean her own filth?

She shouldn't think like that. She told herself, but the door opened, and Spike came in with a bucket and a sponge. Ready to clean her filth and take her unmentionable bag away. She groaned when she saw him. Even almost four months later, she still hadn't come to terms with not being self sufficient.

"Hi to you too Rainbow Dash" Said Spike the dragon, he had heard the groan, he always had, but he knew it didn't come from a bad place. In his mind, Dash just needed more time to get used to her new life. She once had the hope that Twilight would find a cure to her condition, and as an optimist himself, Spike tried to keep that hope alive as much as he could "How are you today Rainbow"

"Itching" she answered, with no real energy behind her voice "My muzzle has been itching since I woke up"

With a small flutter of his wings, spike raised himself to where she was and scratched her nose until she told him to stop. Since he was already there, he brought up the sponge to start her bath. Once he was doing it, he tried to start conversations with her, like he always did, but she refused. Even when she was mocking another friend, telling Rainbow that Twilight had been working so much that she had forgotten to clip her hair, and that she had gotten so fuzzy that she looked like an Irish Cob, she just simply didn't have the energy to talk.

Spike thought about how that was becoming a problem. During the first couple of weeks, she actually replied to him, but since then, getting her to talk was becoming harder and harder. It was as if she had lost any and all interest on conversation as time went on. Fortunately for both of their mental healths, there was something that she was always interested in. _**Flying**_.

"Scootaloo is coming in less than half an hour" He said, almost in passing, something that made Dash turn her head to him almost instantly "She's wondering if you're going to teach her something new this week"

"Is it already saturday?" She asked, being inside this room without anywhere to go and nothing to do, really messed up with her perception of time.

"Yeah. With the wonderbolt tryouts coming so soon she is getting very excited to show them our moves"

"Well, what are you waiting for? Get me in my chair"

Spike finished with her bath, and took her bag of waste to a trash can. When he came back, he sat her in her chair and brought her down to ground level. With all the time it took him to do that, they didn't have to wait too much for Scootaloo. She got to the castle earlier than she usually did on this particular saturday.

Ever since her P. Majoris muscles actually developed, she had finally become able to fly. As much of a late bloomer as she was, she was a very spunky flier. She was as inexperienced as Spike was, but she received the skies with so much emotion, that Rainbow Dash couldn't help but feel a glimmer of hope inside of her cynical heart.

She welcomed the young mare warmly, and thanks to Spike pushing her around, she soon followed to the grounds in front of the castle. From there, she would see Spike and Scootaloo practice their flying and coaching them whenever they needed it. They needed it often.

She enjoyed coaching the young couple, their curiosity and passion for flying was the light of her life at the moment. But as she yelled instructions to the younglings in the sky, there was a voice at the back of her head telling her the truth. A truth she already knew, she didn't like to lie to herself. She was very aware of what she was doing, she was projecting herself into her students. She would feel like shit about this later, but for the moment, she allowed herself to enjoy sight of the combined Sonic Rainboom that Spike and Scootaloo did in unison.

She smiled after seeing it, at the very least, she was going to pass on something…

...

Once the routine that they were going to show to the wonderbolts was done, and Dash was being brought back inside by her trainees, she got something that she hadn't gotten in a couple of months.

Visitors.

And who these visitors were, surprised everypony Her, more than anyone.

Bow Hothoof and Windy Whistles were standing near the door, the vestiges of what was supposed to be a smile quickly disappearing from their faces. This was the first time in months that the saw their daughter and she was bound to a chair, looking malnourished while a dragon was taking her into a crystal structure.

Bow huffed like an angry minotaur, and without any semblance of thinking he sprinted with the full intention of tackling the dragon that, in his eyes, was taking his daughter, hurt daughter away. And if Spike and Scootaloo hadn't raised themselves from the ground, he would had crashed into them. In the end, his blind, overprotective rage, made him crash into a wall.

Scootaloo trotted up to him, to assist him up she yelled a "Mister!" when she thought that he knocked himself unconscious, but this wasn't the case, as he slowly and painfully turned to her, noticing for the first time who she was.

I was that yearling that had the same admiration for Dash that he and his wife had. For a minute, he thought _What is she doing in the lair of a dragon?_ But as soon as she got to him and helped him get up, he noticed the paintings, and pictures framed around the walls. Most of the pictures featured his daughter, happily smiling alongside a group of other mares, some of the pictures also featured…. _The dragon?_

"Mister, Dash isn't in danger… she lives here"

Windy on the other hoof, was still stunned by the sight of her daughter in a wheelchair. Once she started moving and approached the flying dragon with a frown, Rainbow instructed Spike to lay her down in the ground and roll her to her mother.

"Mom, Its okay" She said, with a tone of utmost defeat in her voice "He is Spike. he is my caretaker"

…

Spike and Rainbow Dash guided Windy inside to one of the living rooms the castle had, where Scootaloo and a very distressed Hothoof were already sitting in. When she was brought into the room, he looked at her with a broken heart, and an empty soul.

Rainbow asked her mom to sit down, before she explained her situation.

"A couple of months ago, I went into a cave with my marefriend. We told everypony that we were going to excavate some gems, but we both knew that we weren't going deep into a cave for pretty stones. But before we could get to do anything together, an earthquake interrupted us. We tried to get away, but the cave came down on us… or should I say me? The debris broke my neck and my back in a bunch of places. So here I am, in this chair. Waiting for my alicorn friend to find a spell that can fix it"

Once her parents started crying, they didn't stop for a long while. Their daughter was broken, and they weren't here to protect her when she needed them. Even when Dash herself told them that it was okay, that it was temporary and that Twilight was going to find that elusive spell.

Dash tried to calm them down, she truly did. But they wouldn't budge. Maybe her inner turmoil was obvious. Maybe the only one who really believed that she hadn't given up was her. Maybe her parents could see the true feeling of defeat inside her eyes.

For a while, she and her friends waited for her parents to say something. Knowing full well that she wasn't going to like whatever they had to say. They were overbearing and overprotective. So having her like this wasn't going to go well for her.

And she confirmed her fears when, Bow stood up and said they wanted to take her home.

"What?" Asked, Rainbow Dash, she shouldn't be surprised, but considering where she was at the moment, she didn't expected them to go full ultra-parental instantly "You can't take me away. I'm in the best place I could be!"

"The best place you could be is back at our house in Cloudsdale" Said Hothoof, putting his hoof down, his daughter's safety was his main concern and he wasn't going to leave her care to anyone else "We will take care of you there.

"Dad, I'm in the castle of the elements of harmony, getting cared by a dragon while a wait for a spell to fix me. I'm not moving from this place"

"That's the problem, you're not moving regardless" He said. Inadvertently thrusting a metaphorical knife through his daughter's heart.

"Dashie, you can wait for your spell all you want at home" Interjected Windy, but with a sad tone added "If you wait here, you could be waiting for a long time. Haven't your friends told you that healing spells don't work that way?"

Rainbow knew this. She had been told from day one. From inside the hospital. But she held into that hope as if her life depended on it. So she loudly answered "At least here I can have the hope that my friend, the best spell caster in this whole land! Can come up with something. I'm not going back to Cloudsdale, just so I can be humiliated! What am I going to do there? Watch you both grow old and die taking care of me? NO thank you! I already have enough of that here!"

With her view on the truth now in the open, the whole room stood silent. Dash broke it to say "Spike, take me to my room".

Reluctantly, he did so. While in the living room, Bow and Windy came up to Scootaloo. "If you could take care of her for a couple of days more while we prepare everything at home, we would be grateful"

Knowing their resolve for Rainbow's wellbeing, Scootaloo agreed. Hoping that they knew what they were doing.

In Manehattans, Rarity sat behind the counter of her store staring at nothing. She came here for a report of the financial quarter, and lied to Sassy about coming here to keep an eye on her store. Or at least now it seemed like a lie.

Because Rarity was not at all interested in this store, not the goings on nor Sassy herself. She tried attending her customers for an hour, but quickly dropped it and relegated the responsibility to Sassy.

It was a problem, she knew she had a problem. It had started right when she got the news about Rainbow's condition. But ever since, she wasn't able to focus. Her thoughts were always with her marefriend. Of thoughts about her wounds and her recovery. And about how everything that was happening at the moment was her fault.

How come Dash got crushed, and she only got a few mild scratches? Why couldn't the stone crush her too? That way they could have been together in her pain, but no, here she was, alive and well. Able, and in the city of artsy assholes who love nothing but the smell of their own farts.

Every single moment she was awake, she was bombarded by thoughts of how the crushed one should have been her.

None of the dresses currently on this or any of her stores was a new designp, because for the last two and a half months she had been unable to put pen on paper to design a single thing, much less to sew a model for reproduction. Every single time she tried, she could feel the white paper taunting her back.

Bringing her mind closer to Dash. To how she could have saved them. Every time she was reminded that Twilight once tried to teach her how to teleport, and every time she mentally beat herself up because she rejected Twilight's offer. "When am I going to need a spell like that?" she remembered herself saying.

In her mind, that was no better than having crippled her marefriend herself. She may as well have held the stone herself.

Sassy must have seen a tear in her eye or something, because as soon as she was done with her clients, she trotted up to Rarity.

"Is everything okay?" Sassy asked.

"Yes, yes. I just had something in my eye."

"To be honest, you look like somepony who needs somepony to listen to you. Say, do you want to go for a drink after we're done here for today?"

"Sorry, I have been keeping myself from the bottle lately." answered Rarity, it wasn't a lie, truly. She hadn't drank even a cup of wine or cider ever since the accident. In the months prior to it, she had grown used to drinking with Rainbow Dash, now doing it without her seemed wrong. Empty. Just something that would make her stupid without reason. Reason… like the one she had to be here? " Darling, if it doesn't bother you. I'm going to take my leave"

They didn't share a lot of other words before Rarity trotted out and away from her store. The store that one day had been a dream come true, now was just an empty, vain place filled with things and ponies that didn't interested her in the slightest.

She just wanted to go back to her home in ponyville, to the lover that awaited and to the dream that maybe, just maybe, she could be healed soon.

In her room above one of the branches of the Crystal Tree, however. Dash wasn't feeling up to the idea of being taken away by her parents. She knew how her parents were. She knew that her words were not going to stop them. They were going to have their way and she would soon be in Cloudsdale, being the laughingstock of their community. Or even worse, everypony who knew her up there was going to turn every encounter with her into a pity party.

The worst part, Is that she knew. She knew that what they told her was true. She knew that there was no spell that could help her. She knew that the doctors did their best. She knew that Twilight was doing her best. She knew that she wasn't ever going to move again. And she knew that she would have to be taken care of until she died.

She also knew a way out.

"Spike?" She said, resting on her bed while looking at her hind hooves.

"Yes?"

"Can you write a letter for me?" She asked, no energy behind her tone of voice.

He answered "Yes, of course" as he sprinted to find paper and quill in one of the drawers. "What Kind of letter is this and to whom?"

"Its for the princesses. And… it is a mercy letter"

"What?" He turned to her as quickly as draconally possible. He couldn't believe what she was asking of him "Please Rainbow, tell me that this is a way to cope, and you're not asking what I think you're asking"

"I want them to put me down Spike"

"You can't just give up like this, what if Twi-"

"Spike, you know better than I do that healing magic doesn't work like that" She frowned at him "I'm never going to move again, I'm going to be tied to that chair for the rest of my days with my parents pulling me around. I will never have control over anything ever again. There is only one think I can control now, and I'm taking control over it Spike"

"But. But…"

"Spike. Please. Write the letter"

They say that when you make life changing choices, your head is filled with all the options and outcomes that you have. But at that moment, he thought and felt nothing, nothing but a feeling of lost and emptiness, and that the one feeling that at the moment, both of them were sharing. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fist, and with growing sorrow, he laid quill on paper.


	5. Ending It

The latest group of ponies that had ever heard the Royal Sisters argue had been dead for over a thousand years, so the deafening yells and the sound of crashing furniture coming from Celestia's room was a new experience for the entirety of the servitude that had stationed in front of the ornate door to her room.

They didn't think that they had ever heard Celestia use the traditional Canterlot voice ever in their lives. It was an archaic custom from the times before voice projecting spells were invented, and she had stopped using it as soon as those came around. So, listening to Celestia equate her tone of voice to that of her sister was not something they were used to, and considering how deafeningly loud they were being, they doubted that they could ever get used to it.

The walls muffled their accusations, so whatever they were saying, was only gibberish to their audience outside, but whatever they were fighting about must have been important to have them go at it for the best part of an hour.

Inside the room, Luna yelled at Celestia.

"… You wouldn't even understand how she feels right now! You have never been in a position like hers! In all these years I thought you had started to understand the ponies below you, but you haven't changed at all!"

"Apparently neither did you! You have the same propensity for murder that you had when you were Nightmare Moon!"

In a move that would surprise the ponies outside as much as Celestia, Luna did something unexpected, she walked slowly towards her sister, and lowered her voice, barely above a whisper as her body twisted and contorted into a darker and sleeker form, wearing a set of Royal, dark blue armor, as well as a helmet. By the time she got up to her sister's face, Nightmare Moon was the one talking.

"Do you think you can even begin to understand what Rainbow Dash is going through?" She said, wearing an ugly frown on her face "We can, for a thousand years we laid dormant, trapped and immobile in the moon's core. Yet we knew that we had hope, because when the moment was right, the stars would aid in our escape, and we would be free to come down and get back at you for what you did to us"

With her sister surprised and silent, Luna was free to continue.

"You cannot understand the pain and impotence of being paralyzed, all the guilt, all the self hatred, all the regret you feel when you're so denied of the most basic of sensations. We had hope, we knew that we would come down and move again, Dash knows that she won't. She will never trot or soar through the sky, she will never feel the touch of her lover again. Every single day for the rest of her life, she will look forward to a day of being still, of being fed and cleaned by her friends, a day of feeling like a burden to ever pony she has ever known. A day that will repeat until she dies. I'm not murdering a pony, I'm ending their suffering."

Even though defeating her had become easier in her old age, Celestia was still not easily intimidated. Yet, the clarity, empathy and honesty in her sister's voice made her feel cold to the bone. Not because of fear or impotent anger, but because of shame. Shame and hubris. She had become so used to ruling over her subjects, that this, this last act of freedom requested by one of her subjects, had offended her sensibilities, and she had believed herself worthy to overrule it. And her sister was able to see and cut through her with medical precision. And now, all she was was… stunned.

"We don't know how you can stand the suffering of our subjects, but we can't" Luna evaporated her armor as she turned back to the door "We will leave after you rise the sun tomorrow… With or without you"

In the halls of the friendship castle, a very worried Spike was walking laps near Dash's door. Ever since she made him send her mercy letter to the Royal Sisters, she had refused to speak to anypony until they got here. She hadn't eaten either, she had barely drank any water.

He couldn't even begin to imagine what was going through her mind, but he was sure that it couldn't be good. She wouldn't have asked him to send the letter otherwise. With Dash asking him to not tell Twilight about this, all he could do was sit in panic and hope that the princesses could get her out of this suicidal mood.

Ever since the sun came up, Bow and Windy were working hard on making their home accessible for wheelchairs and, in general, they were making their home fully comfortable for their crippled daughter. It was hard work, but if somepony worth it, that was Rainbow Dash.

What happened to her was a tragedy and a half, and the worst part of it, was that they didn't know about it for the longest time. It hurt them deep inside, and bringing her home in such a state brought them no joy, but at least they knew that in their home, she could be properly cared for.

After he was done paving the ramp in front of his house, Bow stood to wipe away the sweat from his brow. And as his wife trotted up to him with something to drink, something happened. The sky started to darken.

Thinking that somepony must have been screwing up the cloud formations, they turned to give them a piece of their mind, only to find a very different sight. Bow dropped the glass of iced tea that Windy had brought him once he saw what it was.

In the sky above them, the sun was being covered by the moon, and the world around them was being thrown into darkness. Bow's eyes widened with a realization, this was a dark omen. One that had only happened twice before. And everytime it happened, it only meant one thing.

Nightmare Moon is coming.

They didn't even need to remember where she was the last time she attacked. They didn't have time, because both dropped everything that they were doing, and flew as fast as they could towards the castle where Rainbow was being housed.

Down at the boutique, Rarity was staring at her latest piece with a disapproving look. There was nothing wrong with the piece, she couldn't see anything ugly or out of place. There was nothing inherently wrong with it… aside from it's existence of course. It was as if the dress itself was telling her "How dare you. How could you even think of making me when you have Rainbow Dash to take care of? Did you suddenly forget what you did to her?"

It was a feeling that she couldn't name. A mixture of all her guilt and regret, a fusion that haunted her every moment, all of her dresses, all of her vain beauty products. Every single thing she had just told her that every time she saw them.

Ever since, thanks to her, Dash became a cripple, all of her days had become dark, empty, soulless like an infinite night that consumed all in its wake.

A feeling that was rather appropriate, considering what she saw once she took a glance outside. Darkness, almost total darkness. Ponies turning out the lights outside their houses, came rushing out to see the moon stationed in front of the midday sun. Fearing the that the monster that once attacked during the summer sun celebration so many years ago had returned, many started panicking, running to their friends and family.

But Rarity saw something else. The shadow of a couple of tall, majestic ponies flying towards the Friendship Castle.

Just like the other ponies of the town, Rarity feared the worst, and promptly started running towards the castle.

Celestia was used to the halls of her castle. She couldn't put her hoof on why, but somehow the ones on her student's castle felt… smaller somehow and the more that she advanced the smaller they became; She was used to leading, to being the one on the front, but this time she was the one following. Her sister, Luna was taking the lead this time. She had flown towards the little town as soon as Celestia had risen the sun, and she, having thought the words Luna shared with her on the previous night, had soon followed her here. They hadn't exchanged a single word on the whole way to the castle, but as Luna lead her in a slow, stoic walk towards death, voicing her thoughts became a necessity.

"Luna."

"Hm?" Answered the deep blue mare without stopping her step.

"Should we announce our arrival?" Truth to be told, Celestia didn't have a lot to say. She looked for a way to segway into mentioning her general discomfort at ending the life of a helpless pony. But she didn't find how.

"We already did. Everyone can see the signs of our arrival outside. And the one who asked for us, already knows that we are here"

"If you say so, then lead us to her"

Luna walked the halls as if she had designed them herself. She knew where Dash was. She had been in her mind, every night since the accident, always putting nice dreams in her head, trying to keep her away from hopelessness. Her presence here, was the ultimate sign of her failure.

As the Royal Sisters walked up the stairs, a purple pony saw them, and quickly ran to tail them.

"Princess Celestia? What are you doing here?" Asked Twilight sparkle

Without turning, or stopping her somber walk, Celestia answered "We are here to answer Rainbow Dash's request for release"

"Request for release?" Twilight stopped her advance for a second, thinking about what her teacher just said… Her eyes widened with a realization, and using her signature teleportation spell, she disappeared.

The older mares just kept walking.

At the same time, a panicked alabaster pony made her way into the castle, running through the path towards her marefriend's room.

The complete and absolute silence in Dash's room was broken by the noisy purple spark of Twilight's teleportation spell. Twilight herself came out of it, it was true that, considering how much she worked on that mythical healing spell of hers they had stopped looking at each other because she was always working. But seeing her like she was now, Rainbow had no option but to recognize that it was true. She was always working on it. Her personal health be damned.

Twilight looked like a completely different pony. Her coat was unkempt and fuzzy, the feathering on her legs had gotten so long that she looked like a draft horse. And her mane had become so wild and messy that if Dash couldn't see the very tip of her horn barely coming out of it, she may have thought that the Twilight in front of her was an earth pony.

But the thing that would always identify her as Twilight was still there, the eyes, those worried eyes of her, always looking out for her friends. Yeah, Twilight was so worried at the moment.

"Dash?! Please. PLEASE. Tell me that you didn't do what I think you did" Twilight yelled with that worried tone of voice that only mothers could master.

"I asked the Princesses to come here and put me down"

"What?! **WHAT?!**"

"Twilight, this isn't living" Answered Dash "We both know that no matter what you do, or how much you try, you won't find anything that can get me to move again"

As she said that, the door opened, letting Spike and the Royal Sisters into the room.

"You don't know that!" Continued Twilight, not registering the new occupants of the room "I've developed new spells before, and I could do it again"

"Twi, I don't want you to spend the rest of your life in a lab trying to heal me. I know that I can't be healed, I, I… I think I made peace with that a long time ago."

Feeling one of Celestia's hooves on her shoulder, Twilight turned to her.

"Twilight, my pupil. This is a decision that Rainbow Dash has taken, and that we have no intention of going against. We're here to ease her suffering, and allow her passage into the next life"

"Do not worry Twilight Sparkle, It will be quick, and painless" Interjected Luna, speaking from her other side.

"Twi" Said Dash, faintly, looking at her as if her life depended on it "Can you do me one last favor before I go?"

"Anything" answered Twilight, trying to stop herself from tearing up and failing miserably.

"Pop into Scoots' house and bring her here, I need to tell her something"

Closing her eyes, Twilight disappeared into a flash of purple light, and not even two minutes later, she came back in by the same method. This time bringing with her the orange pegasus.

"Dash?! Twilight told me what you said. Is it true?"

"Yep" Said Dash, unbothered by the prospect of her own demise. She was just glad that she could finally let these thoughts out of her head "I'm about to bite it kid. And I wanted to tell you and Spike something. Something I really want you both to do"

Scootaloo got closer to the purple dragon, both advanced to be at the side of their flying teacher.

"Fly"

"What?" asked both of them.

"I want you both to fly. Fly strong, Fly hard. Fly freely. Fly high enough to reach the sky beyond the sky and conquer it. And when you two get there, I want you to spit down, so it falls on the head of some egghead or authority figure. Train yourselves, and be the best. Do it for me, would you guys?"

"We will" Said Scootaloo, barely able to hold her tears in. Spike didn't bother to, he was crying freely.

"Than I have nothing left to say. Okay sisters It's time, I'm a very busy mare and I don't have all day" She said to the Princesses, who moved to her sides.

Before they could start however. Somepony came into the room. An exhausted, Rarity ran up to her. "Rainbow!" Rarity shouted in a voice so high that It almost felt like an ear-piercing yell.

"Hi sweetie" Said Rainbow, looking at her lover standing at the side of Celestia "Came to say goodbye?"

"Good bye? Rainbow what are you saying there was an eclipse outside and-" when Dash turned her head to point at the rest of the ponies in the room, all looking between solemn, sad and somber. Rarity came to a realization. This wasn't a normal visit. Something terrible was happening in here. With a terror creeping from the base of her hoofs to the top of her head, Rarity asked. "Dash, what is happening here?"

"They're here to say one final goodbye, one that I really didn't want to say to you"

"Rainbow… are you..."

"They're going to put me down"

"Why?! No! There must be another way" The panic in Rarity's voice was palpable. Celestia herself had to kept her from jumping onto Dash's bed

"Rarity, I want to hug you, to kiss you and tell you that everything is going to be okay. But I can't even do that." Dash teared up. This was what she had feared, telling her lover goodbye was going to be the hardest thing ever "You're a beautiful, powerful and amazing mare. I'm sure you will find somepony soon. Somepony who isn't a vegetable. Somepony that can actually make you happy. Somepony who can actually love you back this time. And I know that soon enough, after you live a full life, filled with love and affection and friendship, after you go surrounded by your family and ponies who loved you, I know that we will find each other in the next life. I'll be there waiting for you, ready to start again"

Rainbow's tears were stinging her eyes, but she couldn't do anything to remove them. But they kept coming and coming, because nothing made her cry so much as the sight of Rarity crying for her.

Among her sobs and attempts to get on her bed to stop anything from happening to her, Rarity had to be removed from the room. It took the strength of Scootaloo, Twilight and Spike, to take her out for enough time to let the Princesses close and lock the room.

"Let me go!" Rarity screamed "They're going to kill her! they're going to kill my darling!"

"Rarity this is what she wants! She is suffering" Twilight said, pushing Rarity away with all of her strength.

"No!" Rarity yelled, almost crashing into a flower pot.

She took a look around, not registering the sadness and grief of the ponies in front of her, all she could see were murderers. She saw to the corner, the furthermost one away from the room, was Spike, who sat on the floor looking down. She trotted to him with the fury of a scorned kelpie.

"YOU" She pushed him against the wall "This is your fault! You were jealous of our relationship! You did this!"

Her accusations wouldn't have stopped if a furtive slap hadn't knocked her off him. It came from Scootaloo, who even with the tears still in her eyes, was furious with the white mare. "We are all losing a friend here today, and you can only think about how you feel" Unlike in Rarity's, there was no venom on Scootaloo's voice.

"Rainbow has been suffering, and none of us noticed. This is the only decision she can take for herself right now. And all we ask you is that you respect it"

Rarity directed her sight to the ground, like most of them, and started to cry.

With haste, Windy Whistles and Bow Hothoof came running through the hall. Seeing their daughter's lover crying on the ground, they wasted no time in asking "What is happening?" and "Where is Rainbow dash?"

Rarity told them, with a tone of utter defeat "In there, they're, they're killing her"

He was as stunned as his wife, but unlike her, he wasn't paralyzed, his body acted on instinct. He tried to use all his strength to bring down the door. But all he managed to do was hurt himself, he was a pegasus, he had hollow bones, being strong wasn't a part of their skillset.

He didn't want to give up, it took Spike shooting fire at the door to get his attention, and a thorough explanation to make him stop, at which point he sat, looking at the floor defeated, because he realized what this whole time he wasted in conversation meant for his daughter.

Once the commotion outside had died down a bit. The Princesses looked at Rainbow Dash one last time, and in unison, they asked.

"Are you ready?"

"As much as I'll ever be"

Celestia's horn began to glow, engulfing Dash's body in a golden light, so bright that it made Rainbow close her eyes on instinct, then, she heard her chant.

"Fausticorn. We thank you for creating all things. We thank you for the east, because no matter how sad we are, we always feel happy when the sun comes up. We thank you for the west, because when the sun goes down we are happy to have lived another day. We thank you for the north, because it feels good when the cold wind comes down and the leaves change and fall. And we thank you for the south because it feels good when the world gets warm and everything turns green again. We thank you for our ever changing world, and the ponies that live in it. We thank you for the lives you gave us, and we ask that you help us guide this soul through the white path in the stars so she can go and live with you."

The chant had calmed her, so much so that she barely noticed when Luna touched her forehead with her horn and then… nothing. No noise, no feeling, nothing at all.

Rainbow Dash found herself sitting in front of Luna, on top of the moon. The sky beyond the sky everywhere around them.

"Is this a dream?" Asked the pegasus.

"No. This is a place beyond the dream. This is the realm of the eternal sleep. Where ponies come after their lives are over, it's my duty to guide them there" She said, pointing towards a point above them.

Dash moved to look, she could see the immensity. Stars surrounding them on all sides, and the brightest of them all on top of them. It wasn't until she turn her head a bit too far back that she fell backwards and noticed that she could move the rest of her limbs.

"How? How am I moving?" Rainbow asked, as doubtful as she was her doubts were overshadowed by a morbid sense of euphoria.

"Your body was broken" Answered Luna, adopting a casual and compassionate tone "Where we are now, we are not bound by the limits of our bodies. We exists as we perceive ourselves. It is the reason why you're in peak form right now"

As she stood up and started to move around, Dash looked at her body, her musculature was back and she could actually feel herself move, she enjoyed actually feeling herself, and her joints and the feathers and the cold stillness around her.

She could feel the irony of the situation as well. She hadn't felt this alive in a long while, how funny was that? Once she realized it, and the emotion had died down a bit. She felt an overwhelming feeling of melancholy.

She was dead. This was her after her life. A life that would last forever, without her friends, without her family. She was relieved that her suffering was over, but she didn't even get to say goodbye to many of her friends.

She let out a sigh. "_This is really the end isn't it?" _she thought out loud.

"Yes it is" answered Luna

"Did I say that at loud?"

"Yes you did" said Luna, adding a giggle at the end. She put a hoof on Rainbow's shoulder and asked "Is there anything wrong little one?"

"I… Its just… My mom, my dad, most of my friends, I... I didn't say goodbye"

"I understand. Do you want to tell them'"

"You can do that?"

Instead of answering, Luna, rose her head, and let her horn glow, letting shining silver strands out of it, where they went, Dash didn't know. What she knew, is that as they became longer, the transparent bodies of her friends started to appear around her until finally, the circle was closed by her parents.

Terrified by their appearance, Dash asked "Did you just?"

"No. They're merely in the realm of the dream, separated from where we are. But they can see and hear you. Rainbow Dash, say what you need to say. Do not leave with any regrets"

Rainbow didn't have any time to think though, as her parents basically tackled her to hug her. Among the most painful pressions of their overbearing love as her parents, Rainbow could hear them say things like "We were so worried" and "We thought you were in danger. We saw the black moon and…"

It took them a second, but they finally noticed the imposing figure of Princess Luna staring down at them. They did the first thing that came to them, they moved to defend their daughter.

"Dashie, stay back. Its Nightmare Moon!" yelled Bow Hothoof, as he put his body between his daughter and what he perceived as a threat.

"We won't let this monster hurt you any more"

"Mom, dad. Princess Luna is my friend!" She said, pushing through their barricade and turning to them "Sorry that they're saying these horrible things to you"

"Not the first time, nor the harshest" said Luna, taking it with grace.

"But, but she tried to kill you"

"No mom, she did kill me… Because I asked"

In unison her parents yelled a deafening "What!". And as Dash started to explain the rest of the ponies present started to get closer to them.

"I… I asked the Princesses to come and put me down." Said Rainbow Dash, while she had a hint of sadness in her voice, there were no traces of defeat on it. "As the months went by with no progress on a way to heal me, I started to realize that my life would end up being just me staring at something in front of me, with life going by in front of me, stuck forever in that stupid chair. And with you two coming to take me away, I saw how little power I had to make my own decisions anymore. So, I took the last decision that I could. To end it"

There were plenty of buts among the crowd, but a stomp from Princess Luna was enough to remind them that they were in a sacred place and that they needed to pipe down. Thanking Luna. Dash moved to each one, and started.

"Rarity. You were the best thing that ever happened to me. The months we spent together were the happiest of my life, and something that I will never forget. All I ask from you is to be happy when you remember me" Dash gave her a kiss on the lips, and then moved away from her marefriend, who was trying to contain her tears.

"Applejack. You were a great rival, and an even better friend. I'm going to miss competing with you. But you can be sure that I'll be waiting for your next challenge once you come to this side"

"I'm sorry I couldn't do anythin' to prevent this Rainbow Dash"

"There was nothing you could do AJ, don't blame yourself for anything."

"I'm going to miss you so much!" The tough earth pony hugged her best friend, who hugged her back, and reassured her that she had nothing to blame herself for before moving onto her next friend.

"Twilight. Thank you for being the best egghead that a mare like me could ever hope to befriend. My life would have been a bore if you hadn't become a part of it. I owe so many things to you, and I wouldn't have been able to pay you back in a whole lifetime. Please, don't ever stop being you, and… before you ask, yes, you can have my signed Daring Do box set" Twilight received her words with a smile and tears in her eyes. As she knew these were going to be Dash's last words to her.

"Fluttershy" Was all she was able to say, before the pegasus in question hugged her and started to cry on her shoulder. "Flutters, please. Don't cry. I know it's hard to see a friend go, but you're one of the bravest ponies I've ever met. You will be able to manage" Dash broke the hug and looked directly into her eyes "Fluttershy, don't ever forget how strong and awesome you are, you have the heart of a manticore inside of you, and you're as tough as an ursa major. I know the world is scary, but you're more than equipped to handle it, and I will be cheering for you" Fluttershy tried to stop herself from crying as Rainbow moved away, but she was having no luck.

"Pinkie" Dash said looking to a deflated looking version of her friend, with her hair looking straight and discolored "Pinkie, don't be so sad. I'm not. Don't look at this like the end, think of it as a new beginning. Tell you what. When you're a merry old mare, and is your turn to come here, I'll be waiting for you, and we'll spend the rest of eternity partying. Does that sound good?" Pinkie nodded weakly, and Dash continued "It made me so happy to be your friend for all these years, because that's what you do, you bring happiness to everypony, don't ever stop doing that Pinkie, because I know there is plenty of ponies out there that really need it" Pinkie gave her friend a hug and whispered into her ear "you made me happy too". After a long mutual hug. Dash moved onto the next one.

"Scootaloo." The young mare looked at her with admiration and melancholy, so Dash put her hoof on her shoulder before talking "Squirt, you were the best fan, pupil, sister and friend that I could have ever asked for. You have awesomeness in you. And you'll do great things, I know you will, because I can see it in your eyes. I don't know what your future will bring, but all I know is that I will be cheering for you from beyond. Always remember to tell yourself that you can do it, because I always believed that you were going to be a great flyer. Now I know one thing, you're going to be the best" Rainbow gave the yearling the strongest hug she could muster, trying not to show the tears that were forming in her eyes. She really was going to miss the little squirt.

"Now, Spike. You were a great friend during all these years. You took my pranks like a champ, and… oh man. I'm… I'm so sorry you had to take care of me for these few months. I'm very thankful for you, you were the best nurse and caretaker I ever had. All I can say to you is, never stop having such a huge heart" She took a hug from the dragon, that she exploited so she could whisper in his ear "If you break her heart, I'll come back to haunt you" he answered with "I wouldn't dream of it". The two friends had a small giggle, before Rainbow Dash gave her farewell and started walking towards the last set of ponies.

"Mom. Dad. You were the most awesome ponies on equus for me, I know that sometimes I could be mean, but it was because you two were overbearing and overprotective. I know it came from the best place, I know that you love me to no end. But for once. You need to let me go. I know that your love for me is endless, and I do want to make you happy, but I can't spend a life suffering just so we can be together, I…"

"I understand" Said Windy Whistles, giving her daughter one last hug, one that her husband joined in soon after. And Spike, And Scootaloo, and Pinkie, and one by one, every single one of her friends joined in. Dash could feel it. The emotion running through the ponies in the pile of ponies that formed that group hug, she could feel their affection, and friendship, their sadness, melancholy, and above all thing, love. Love for her, and what would become a memory of her.

The last memory they would ever share with Rainbow Dash.

Soon, Rainbow felt the hug become lighter, and lighter. She looked up to see the ponies becoming more and more translucid, a look at Luna confirmed that It was time, the last memory she would have of these ponies would be this hug, so with a smile she told them.

"Goodbye everypony" as they disappeared into the ether.

Luna asked her "How are you feeling?"

"Better, I guess. You know, I never thought I would ever see this place again"

"It's a magnificent sight don't you think?"

"Yeah."

"Do you leave anything behind? Any regrets?"

"No… hey, can I ask you something?"

"Of course?"

"When will it be over? When I'm going to… you know"

"It's already over. Your body was left behind, you're in a place beyond the suffering of your mortal coil. All that is left for you to do now, is to come to the white road, so you are able to start the next life."

Dash gulped a bit, looking upwards from the floor of the moon. It looked like those were an infinity away.

"Rainbow Dash. Tell us, do you want to fly there?"

With a faint smile, Rainbow spreaded her wings for the last time. "I will race you there!"


	6. A Better Place To Be

When she got the news, Windy Whistles almost had a heart attack. Scootaloo and Spike had brought the bad news to her parents, who received it as if the younglings were trying to play a bad prank on them, before realizing that they were being serious.

The gamut of emotions that they went through on the following hour covered a whole rainbow of emotions. From rage, to impotence, to a powerful, all consuming sadness. It took them a while before Scootaloo and Spike could leave the room.

Their daughter's funeral was held two days after her death, and presented by none other than Princess Luna herself. As it was custom in Equus, her body was to be laid to rest at night. It was appropriate for her to be the one preceding the event.

As Dash's friends, relatives and co-workers reunited to give her body their last goodbye, something became abundantly clear for Luna. She was the only one in the whole place that wasn't looking downwards.

She had to do something….

"Mares and Gentlecolts. As we are here reunited to lay Rainbow Dash down to rest one last time, We have noticed something. Downward stares, crying eyes and sad expressions. And we cannot allow this to stand."

Luna started walking around the ponies present. "Long ago, back in the time before Discord, before the elements. Before our beloved sister grew a horn, and before I grew wings. Over a thousand years we when were normal ponies, funerals and burials weren't a cause for such sorrow. We mourned our departed, yes. But the occasion was a cause of celebration."

Luna saw the confused look In most of the ponies faces, and the downright offended one in her parents face, and continued. "We celebrated because even when their presence had left us, parts of them were still with us." Luna walked towards Scootaloo and Spike "The ponies she taught", Luna moved onto Spitfire and Soarin.

"The ponies she worked with and the experiences they shared" she moved onto Rarity.

"The ponies she loved deeply" and then, she referred to all others present "and of course. The ponies she cared about, and those who cared for her the most"

The tears in Bow and Windy's eyes didn't stop, but they were looking at her attentively.

"Yes. We will mourn the lost of Rainbow Dash for years to come, and maybe the guilt of the many things we didn't say or do will eat us away at night. But right now, there are plenty of reasons to celebrate. Even when Rainbow Dash's mood and mind went to dark places in the last few months, she died calmly, peacefully on her own terms. She left without regret, leaving behind a life of accomplishment, hard work, of loved lovers and cherished friends. And of family that she will spend eternity bragging about to the fausticorn.

I want you all to know something. Dying, and going beyond the veil is not the end. She is still here, in your hearts. And above. If you ever feel down, in need of the words of that friend. All you need to do, is look up at the sky at night, where spirits shine through to guide those that loved them in life. She watches over you, just like you all did with her. So do not despair. Just like you now have to enter one without her, She is merely entering another stage in life"

Having finished her speech. All the present ponies gave their regards, and offerings, condolences were given. But spirits felt lifted. Dash's casket was lowered and covered with soil. After that, most of the ponies started to walk back towards the graveyard's entrance. All except for one.

Rarity the alabaster pony, who looked upwards to the sky above her lover's grave. She wasn't crying anymore, but the marks of her runned makeup were still there. She couldn't bring herself to smile. But she wasn't frowning. She just… looked.

"Rarity are you coming?" She heard Twilight yell, from what seemed to be a decent distance.

She stopped looking at the sky and with a properly vocalized "Coming!" she walked up to her friends.

"What were you doing?" asked Twilight

"Wishing upon a star" was her answer. Her friends didn't dared to laugh, but they all gave her a smile back.

Applejack added "In honor of our little Dashie, lets go drink some cider. Tonight, they're all on me"

Rarity couldn't help but be amused by the cheers of her friends. It was going to be weird to start drinking without Rainbow Dash. But somehow she would manage, she had promised herself to do what Dash asked her in the moments before her passing, and while she didn't know if she would ever be truly happy again, this was a fine first step.

As the mane five trotted on their way to the nearest bar, in the sky above, a star shimmered with seven different colors. Shining brighter than all the stars around it, lighting the way for the ponies below it.


End file.
